Urban Furniture: Social Sofas

Although cities bring people together, urban dwellers may well feel forlorn. “It is a pity there is little interaction between people in the streets,” Karin Bruers argues, “but the current condition of public space does not really help or invite either.” Back in the days, outdoor benches were key places for people to gather, discuss and share the latest gossip. Yet as damaged benches were neither repaired nor replaced, these places of interaction disappeared.

Soon after Bruers had decided to bring back urban furniture to the streets of Tilburg, the Netherlands, the concept of Social Sofa was born. Concrete was used to ensure the furniture’s future, while mosaic designs decorated the benches. The local government purchased some sofas and companies were eager to sponsor customized ‘limited editions’. Within a few years, more than 1,000 social sofas were put in the city of Tilburg alone. Recently, special editions were signaled in Belgium and China.

I value such initiatives to improve the quality of public space. Luckily, the large scale of this project did not lead to endless copies of one design. In fact, the recognizable concrete bodies wear all different skins. Yet while many urban interventions are temporary, the heavy social sofias seem to be permanent footnotes in the city. At the same time, sofas pop up spontaneously with little regard of changing surroundings. I have heard rather practical complaints about the sofas feeling wet and cold. It needs to be seen whether social sofas bring along sunny times.

As we take on the struggles of setting up a fishtank in our office here at Pop-Up City, this fabulous aquarium concept for Designboom’s TIFF Awards is a timely splash of inspiration. Designed by Takuro Yamamoto Architects, the glass fish basin is a stylized version of a world map that doubles as a coffee table.

We are used to popular media portraying society and occurring events. Sometimes, however, pieces of art are produced before a specific event has happened and under some newly occurring conditions regain its significance. During the last days of turbulence in London I came across the poetic apocalyptical world of London based FACTORY FIFTEEN, a studio…

Designers Louwrien Kaptein and Menno Bolt have been producing a flexible interior for an artist consisting of four double panels, each with its own function. The interior consists of units that can be easily collapsed and taken to another site, wherever you want it to be.

The fact that birds eat fastfood becomes clear when you pay attention to the pigeons on the central squares of the world’s big cities. Picking the left-overs of hamburgers and fries from right between your your legs, these intrusive birds know very well what they prefer for dinner. As a consequence of adopting human eating habits they are increasingly fat. Obesity among birds becomes an urban phenomenon. This must have triggered Copenhagen-based artist Brian Wolter to create this take-away for birds.